MR EXTENDS OUR SYMPATHY TO GORDON AND NANCY ENGEL
On behalf of our entire menswear community, everyone at MR Magazine extends our love and prayers to Gordon Engel, president of The Foursome in Plymouth, Minnesota, his wife Nancy, and their family on the loss of their daughter Kathryne (29), her husband Jamison Pals (also 29), as well as the couple’s three young children Ezra, Violet and Calvin. They were killed in a car accident on Sunday, July 31.
The family was on their way to a final round of training in Colorado before moving to Japan to become Christian missionaries when their minivan was rear-ended by a semitrailer truck on a highway in Nebraska.
The couple met at the University of Northwestern-St. Paul and had been planning this move for a couple of years. Jamison, who always had a calling to do missionary work in Japan, and Kathryne, who intended to teach English to Japanese preschoolers, were described by a colleague as “the most selfless people you would ever want to meet.”
No one who knows the Engel family would be surprised by this description. The Foursome has been honored for retail excellence at the annual MR Awards Dinner and the family is tremendously well respected throughout the menswear industry.
My sincerest condolences and prayers to the Engel family in this time of incomprehensible grief, may the souls of Kathryne, Jamison, Ezra, Violet and Calvin rest in peace.
I think my sister got her heart
Gordy and Nancy, my sincerest condolences to your entire beautiful family. From the time your son Michael first introduced me to you, you impressed upon me the importance of family and Christian values within The Foursome. On that first visit you introduced me to Nicole, Keri, Beth, and daughter in law Kelsey. I did not have the honor of meeting Kathryne, but both you and Nancy spoke lovingly of her and her husband. And with quiet pride of their calling to be missionaries. As the father of five daughters, I have to admit I would have had a hard time accepting the personal sacrifice of having my child and her family move to the other side of the planet. But for you and Nancy, I never sense that it was difficult. Just another example of the Engle family values. Like Gordys ministry to the disadvantaged, or being a life coach to those overcoming an addiction, or coaching young men to be good teammates in life not just football … The list goes on. When I was invited to your Saturday morning staff meeting, I learned just how devoted The Foursome is to Christian values. This was not a sales meeting. The “Huddle” starts with a prayer, and is focused on the well being of every employee, their families and their customers. Yes business is taken care of, but you never lose sight of the guiding principles. Each time I was blessed to be included in the Huddle, I felt a renewed spirit. I think everyone was inspired to be a better version of themselves.
I know your faith and your love for one another, and the prayers of all those lives your family has touched, will be your strength in this time of great loss. In the Greek tradition we say “May the life of Christ be with you”